A New Life
by InvestInLove
Summary: REPOST. AU. Keely's on the run with her 16 month old daughter. Phil's family owns the local Bed and Breakfast. What happens when fate brings them together? After a long awaited...eternity...CHAPTER 6 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

****

Once again, an AU (I like those, if you haven't noticed). I can't give away details, but Phil never lived in the future and had never met Keely before. Sorry about not updating my other stories, but this one randomly came to my head on my way home from Myrtle Beach while we were driving through all those little barely-there towns, and I had to write it! And btw, Douglas is not a real place.

**Well, yeah. I decided that, since it's been about two years and this thing has been like, sitting around gathering dust, that I should edit it and repost it since my writing style and all has changed so much. So yeah. This is a repost, not sure if anyone will even remember this story now though.**

* * *

"Welcome to Douglas, NC." The young woman read, slowing her car down. Her long blonde hair blew loosely behind her in the wind. The convertible hadn't been her first choice, but, in her hurry at the dealer, she had taken whatever they would give her.

She looked over her shoulder to the backseat, checking on her 16 month old, Lilly, covered in her car seat, who was still sound asleep. She sighed. She had driven there all the way from Missouri, only stopping for gas when her tank was borderline empty, and once she was a safe distance away, she stopped at a motel in Tennessee for one night.

That had been the only night of sleep for her, and that was over 24 hours ago. She didn't know how much longer she could go on with no sleep.

At first, it looked like there was no town. All she saw was houses, mostly old ones. After a mile or two, she found the "start of the town," which was just a gas station, but at least it was a sign of life.

A little way up the road, there was another gas station, but a newer, nicer looking one, and a few fast food restauraunts. Maybe this could be a place to hide, to start over, even if for only a little while. She drove a few more miles and passed a Food Lion and another fast food place, this one with a playground inside.

Even though Lilly was not even two years old, there was nothing she liked more than playing on playgrounds. This place was looking better as she drove farther into it, but she hadn't seen any motels.

There were a few more restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores, but that was pretty much all. Maybe this town wasn't the right place after all. Maybe it would be better to keep on driving.

"I'm not going to give up yet." She whispered. "There's still hope."

She looked down at her arms. Although it was summer and pretty hot, she was wearing a thin long sleeve shirt. Since there was no one with her at the moment, her sleeves were pushed up, revealing bruises of all colors and shapes. Some were healing; some had just been made a few days before.

She knew she was strong. She had gotten this far already. She had been strong enough to leave her abusive husband, leave the life she used to have.

Changing her mind about leaving the town, she pulled over into the parking lot of a small, country, almost homey feeling breakfast diner.

She got out of the rental car, taking Lilly out of her car seat carefully, trying not to wake her. She rolled her sleeves down, and walked to the door, a small sense of hope coming over her.

Behind the counter was a woman who looked to be in her 60s or 70s, with curly white hair and a comforting smile. She liked the woman already.

"Excuse me, um, is there any place to stay around here. Just for a while until I can get a job and buy a house somewhere around here." She realized she was rambling, but the woman's smiling face didn't change until she opened her mouth to say something.

"Well actually-,"

She was interrupted by a young man, looking like he was in his early to middle twenties.

"My family owns a small Bed and Breakfast just a few streets away. Maybe you could stay there."

Like the older woman, the man seemed instantly welcoming. "Yeah...ok." She said, smiling.

"Well you didn't have to interrupt me, I was going to suggest your place too!" The older woman said to the man. It was obvious they had known each other for some time.

"Names Darlene." She said. "And this is Phillip Diffy."

"But you can call me Phil." He said smiling.

She smiled back at him. "My name's Keely." She said. "Keely Teslow." Just then, she felt something start to move in her arms. "And this is Lilly."

* * *

**Editing? Forget it. I read through this and realized that there really wasn't anything wrong with it. I made like, two changes. And they were, VERY small changes. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**See, I told you I would update this now that it's reposted! I've had a lot of ideas for the second chapter, but I've decided to mostly make it a flashback chapter so everyone will see how bad Keely's life was and WHY she had to leave.**

* * *

"Is this okay?" Phil asked, leading Keely and Lilly into one of the small rooms of the Bed & Breakfast.

Like the town and café, it had a homey feel to it. Most of the furniture as well as the floor was a dark brown wood and, although it was obvious it had been used before, there was nothing about it that looked old or cheap.

"It's perfect." Keely said, offering the kind stranger a small smile.

He smiled back, and Keely found herself wanting to blush. "Need help with your bags or anything?"

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I can manage."

"You sure?" She almost felt bad about saying no. It seemed like he genuinely wanted to help, but the cautious part of her was saying not to get to friendly with anyone.

"Yeah." She smiled at him again. "But, uh, do you know of anywhere there might be a job available?"

"Actually, I think Darlene's looking for staff in the café since whats-her-face ran off with the bartender." Keely raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, small town. People gossip and everyone knows everything about everyone." He paused. "Well, accept for you. But believe me, they will soon enough. We don't get new people much."

Keely rolled her eyes. "Great. I was hoping to just settle down, find a decent place to live, and start over." She stopped, suddenly realizing she said too much. "But still, I've never lived in a small town before. I've always thought it sounded nice, though."

She could see the confusion in his eyes, but was thankful that he didn't question her. "Well, uh, let me know if you need anything. I'll be in the main building."

"Okay." Keely said, glancing down at Lilly, who had fallen asleep again.

"She's cute." Phil noted. "How old?"

"16 months." Keely said, although part of her was hoping he could leave. She enjoyed talking to him, but after not sleeping in over 24 hours she was more than ready to go to bed.

Phil nodded, suddenly not really knowing what to say. "Well, goodnight." He said awkwardly. "I'll put in a good word for you with Darlene."

Keely smiled. "Thanks. And goodnight to you, too." Phil gave her one last smile before he walked out.

_You will not fall for him. _Keely told herself. _The last thing you need to be doing in getting into another relationship._

First impressions, she remembered could be deceiving. When she first met Austin, he seemed like the sweetest guy in the world.

Too bad all of that changed just 3 months after they were married, which was why she had to leave in the first place. It was hard to believe then, that she had just left four days ago. It seemed like an eternity.

**Flashback**

_Midnight. One AM, two AM. She had been watching the clock the past two hours when she heard the front door bang open._

_She pulled the blanket as tightly as she could around her and braced herself, knowing that the later he got home only meant he was more drunk._

"_Keely? Where are you?" She heard Austin stumble down the hallway, hearing a loud boom, then a crash as a lamp fell to the floor._

"_Shit." She muttered. He was even worse than usual. There was no way that could end well._

"_Keely?" He called again, causing her heart to speed up._

"_In here!" She finally called._

"_Why are you already in bed?" He demanded as he walked in._

"_Uh, it's two in the morning?" Keely said, instantly regretting it._

"_Are you having an attitude with me, Keely?" He wasn't yelling, or even slightly raising his voice, but it was low and cold, terrifying in a way nothing else could be._

"_N..no." She muttered._

"_You know, after this long, you'd really think you would have learned your lesson." He was slurring so bad she could hardly make out his words._

"_I…I'm sorry _." _

"_Sorry?" He yelled. "You're not sorry, but you're going to be!" He grabbed her by the hair, dragging her out of bed, causing her to fall to the floor._

_He kicked her in the stomach before grabbing her by the hair again and pulling her to her feet. He slammed her into the closet door and she hit her head. Lilly started crying, having woke up from all the noise._

"_Would you shut her up?" He yelled._

"_She's a baby. She's going to cry." _

_Austin grabbed her and slammed her to the floor again. He started to stumble around, the alcohol starting to make an even greater effect on him, and she knew he would be gone soon._

_He passed out on the floor a few minutes later, and only then did Keely allow herself to get off the floor. When she heard Lilly start crying she made up her mind. She was going to leave, and she had to do it then._

_She knew Austin would be out for the rest of the night and probably part of the next day, then packed some of her stuff and Lilly's in a bag. _

_The reality had suddenly came to her as she was laying there. What if one day, he got tired of hurting her, and moved on to Lilly? She could deal with it if it was only her, but the thought of him laying a hand on Lilly made her realize that if she didn't get out then, she might never get a change._

_She looked at Austin laying on the floor one last time before picking up Lilly and walking out, slamming the front door behind her, determined to make a new life for them both._

**End Flashback**

Years. That literally seemed like it had been years ago. Had she really come so far in just four days?

After getting herself and Lilly ready for bed, she layed down to get some much needed sleep with a small part of her hoping to dream of Phil.

* * *

**Well? How was it? I'm not so sure about it, but I'm not saying it's the worst thing ever. Reviews are inspiration :).**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**To be honest I'm really happy to be writing this story again. I always loved the plot of it.**

* * *

When Keely woke up the next morning, for a minute she forgot where she was.

But as she took in the vaguely familiar settings, she smiled. She had escaped. She had started over. She was finally free.

That day was the day she was supposed to go to the café, and although she was nervous, she had high expectations about getting the job.

She decided to let Lilly sleep for another hour while she got ready.

As she was about to walk out, she heard a knock on the door. She panicked, a small part of her thinking it could be Austin.

No, she told herself, there is absolutely no way he could have found me here.

To her relief, it was Phil. "Uh, are you still planning on going to the café?"

"Yeah." Keely said.

"You want to ride with me? I'm stopping by there on the way to work." He said.

"Uh, no thanks. I mean, I'd like to, but I'd need a way to get back here so I guess I should take my car." Keely wished with everything in her that she could accept the ride and hoped he didn't think what she said was an excuse.

"Okay. I understand." He looked a little disappointed, making Keely feel worse. He opened his mouth to say something else before decided he shouldn't.

"I'll see later, then." He said, smiling.

Keely couldn't help but smile back. "Hopefully." She wanted to smack herself. She definitely shouldn't be flirting with a stranger when she'd just left her husband days before.

She swore she saw Phil start to blush a little before he smiled one last time and walked over to his truck.

"Why did I say, that Lilly?" Keely asked her daughter, who she knew couldn't understand what she was saying, once Phil had driven away.

"Daddy." Lilly said. It was one of the few words she knew, and Keely knew she was wondering why she hadn't seen her dad in five days.

"No, sweetie. Daddy's not here." She said, not sure if Lilly understood.

Lilly started to cry because all she understood was that the word "no" meant she wasn't getting what she was asking for. Keely just held her tighter and hoped that as Lilly grew older, her early memories of her father would fade.

She put Lilly in her car seat and drove to the café, where she immediately saw Phil's truck sitting outside.

As she walked in, he was walking out. "What are you doing here?" She asked. She hadn't been expecting him to still go there if he didn't have to take her.

"Giving Darlene a good word, just like I said." Phil said, smiling and walking back to his truck.

Keely smiled and realized that she was liking him more by the second.

"Uhm, Darlene, Phil said that you might be looking for staff so do you think I could…"

"You're hired." Darlene said, cutting her off.

"So, no interview or anything?" Keely asked surprised.

"Nope. Phil came in an' told me you were lookin' for work and that I should consider givin' you a job." She said. "And Phil's a good judge of character, so I just figured, why not?"

"Okay, uhm thanks. When can I start?" She asked with a smile.

"You free right now?" Darlene asked.

"Uhm, well…I would be, but I don't really have anyone to take care of Lilly." Keely suddenly felt unbelievably stupid- that was one big thing she hadn't even thought about.

"Don't worry about that. Phil's younger sister runs a free daycare center in her house because there are so many single mothers around here who can't afford those big fancy places." Keely breathed a sigh of relief. She would have hated to have to turn down the job.

"Should I take her there now?" She asked.

"If you don't mind taking the trip." Darlene said.

Keely listened attentively as Darlene gave her directions to Phil's sister, Pim's, house.

_What an odd name. _She thought as she walked back to her car.

She pulled up in front of a small house, hoping it was the one that belonged to Pim Diffy- she had never been too good with directions.

There was playground equipment in the backyard, so she assumed she as in the right place, and like everything else around there, the house looked warm and welcoming.

When she knocked on the door, a girl with long blonde hair who looked a little younger than Keely, opened the door.

"Um, hi." Keely said nervously.

"Are you Keely?" The girl asked.

"Yeah." Had word got around town that fast?

"Oh, I'm Pim." She said. "Darlene called and said you'd be coming by."

Keely almost laughed from relief. Of course there was no way, no matter how small the town, that people could have heard about her already. "Oh, um, well this is Lilly. Should I just, um, drop her off now?"

"Yeah." As Keely turned to walk away, Pim got her attention. "Oh and Keely?'

"Yeah?"

"Be easy on my brother's heart. He's been hurt a lot." Keely's jaw dropped.

"What?" Did she really think…?

"Sorry. I…I just know that Phil likes you a lot. But yeah, girls have screwed him over a lot in the past and because he's such a nice guy, he's just sort of put up with it."

"Oh, well, don't worry about it." Keely said. "I'm not even ready for a relationship right now, but he does seem like a nice guy."

"Well when you're ready….give him a chance?" Keely could tell that Pim genuinely cared about her brother and it made her wish for the millionth time that she hadn't grown up an only child.

"I will." She said, smiling and walking back to her car.

_How on earth_, she wondered as she drove back to Darlene's, _did a guy like that fall for a girl like me?_

But she knew what she told Pim was true; when she was ready for a relationship again, her first choice would be Phil, and she couldn't shake the nagging part of her saying that the time would come soon.

* * *

**This is what you call a FILLER CHAPTER! Ugh. I hate writing them, but I guess they're sort of necessary(but a big disappointment since the last chapter was so much more action packed.) Sorry for not updating in so long. I was having problems finishing this once I got about halfway done. Reviews are inspiration! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**I am SO sorry for not updating this in so long, but I'm having some bad writers block right now. But thank you to everyone who hasn't given up on me yet :). OH, but I would have had this chapter done way before, but I got some details messed up and wrote the beginning of this chapter totally wrong…but I really wish I could have used that for this…but it's not really possible. Ugh.**

* * *

It was finally time to go home. Keely was exhausted from her long, first day of work. It hadn't been any hard work, but she had been on her feet most of the day and she felt like she was going to pass out any second.. All she really wanted to do was go back to her room and sleep.

When she walked out of the café, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was a man standing against the door of her car, arms crossed, obviously waiting for her.

She squinted through the darkness, her panic subsiding when she realized it was only Phil.

"What the HELL," She demanded walking over to her car., hands on her hips "Are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack. Seriously."

She saw the hint of a smile in his eyes. "I'm sorry. Really. I wasn't trying to scare you or anything. I thought you would realize it was me."

"Well it's dark, and I don't know about you but I don't have night vision." Keely said, still trying to get over the moment of fear.

"Who else would it be?" Phil asked.

_My crazy ex-husband, _she wanted to say. "No one. I just wasn't expecting anyone." She said. "And you know, you could have come inside."

"I didn't know when you were getting off. I didn't want to bother you at work." She couldn't help but smile at his genuine innocence.

"Well, uh, is there anything thing I can help you with?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you had plans for lunch tomorrow, I mean, if you aren't working or anything." He said.

"No, I'm not working." She said. "And no, I don't have plans. But I mean, if you want to make them, you better hurry since I'm so popular in this town. I mean I do know, like what, 3 people?"

Even in the dark, she could see him blush. "Well, uh, do you want to, uh, do something then?" _Well, he's persistent_, she thought, _first he wants to give me a ride and now he wants to go to lunch…all in one day._

"Um, yeah. I mean, I guess so." She said. "But only if it's okay for me to bring Lilly, because I really don't want to have to take her to Pim's if I'm not at working."

"Yeah, that's fine. She's a cute kid." Keely found herself smiling, even though there was a small part of her saying that going out with him, even if it was just for lunch, was a mistake.

"Okay." She said nervously.

"I'll pick you up around 11:45. Is that okay?" She could tell he was just as nervous as she was.

"Yeah. Sure. That's fine." She suddenly realized she was involuntarily twirling her hair around her finger, a nervous habit she'd had since middle school.

"Okay, well, then I guess I'll uh, talk to you later." He said.

"Yeah." She opened the door to her car. "Uhm, bye."

"Bye." He gave her an awkward half-wave and started across the parking lot to his truck, where he did a brief victory dance once he was out of sight.

As Keely drove to Pim's house, she couldn't get Phil off her mind. She wanted to slap herself for agreeing to go out with him, but she knew inside that she would have regretted turning down the offer even more.

When Pim answered the door she thought about telling her that her brother had just asked her out, just to feel like she had a girlfriend to talk to, but decided against it.

"Was she okay?" She asked, referring to Lilly who was sleeping in Pim's arms.

"She was great. Actually, she was much more well behaved than most of the children that come here." Pim said. "She fell asleep about 45 minutes ago.

As she took Lilly from Pim, she realized how much of a relief it was to have her sleeping child back in her arms. After all, Lilly was all she had, and the only good thing that had come out of her marriage with Austin.

Getting ready for bed later that night, she noticed that most of her bruises were faded, or had started to fade. Soon, she would be able to wear short sleeves again, and she smiled at the idea of something so simple.

Lilly started to stir on the bed behind her, then opened her eyes.

"Well Lil, we have a date tomorrow." Keely said, picking Lilly up and laying her across her chest.

Even though she knew the child couldn't understand, she took it as a good sign when Lilly smiled.

"We have a knew life, Lilly. We really do." She whispered, messing with her hair, trying to get her to get tired again so she could sleep.

When she was finally able to lay down for herself that night, her nerves kicked in. Had she made the right choice?

Should she have really let Phil in so quickly? Should she have really agreed to go out with him when she had only known him for two days? Was he as nice as he seemed, or was he deceiving her like Austin had?

After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, she finally fell asleep hoping and praying that falling for Phil was not a mistake.

* * *

**Oh my gosh, I really don't think I should have posted this chapter. I just feel like it was not good, like at all. I've had really bad writers block, but I finally forced myself to finish writing this. I might just be putting myself down as always, but if it really is terrible just tell me and I might take this chapter down and fix it or making redo it all together. Only you can decide. Review!! Also, sorry it's so short! **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**So, so, so, sorry for not updating this. I just haven't been able to think of any ideas…at all. I hate writers block!**

**

* * *

**

That night, Keely woke up six times, had three nightmares, and got about four hours of sleep all together. And all because she agreed to go on a damn date with some guy she barely knew, if it could even be considered a date since she was taking Lilly with her.

To say she was stressed out was an understatement. She was panicking. In her first bad dream, Lilly had spit up all over Phil and he had walked out. In her second, he didn't even come pick her up and when she tried to call him it said his didn't exist.

The third however, was the worst. They were sitting in the parking lot of some unfamiliar place, leaning against his truck, when she realized Lilly was gone. She looked all around and finally saw Austin getting in his car, Lilly in the back seat, and he had driven away before she could reach them. She woke up scared and sweating, and wasn't able to fall asleep again after that.

At 7:00 she finally gave up. She got up and looked around at the small room she was in, hoping that she would be able to afford a house soon, even if it was just a small one. Thankfully, Lilly was still sleeping, but she was sure that wouldn't last long considering she had slept straight through the night, which was very rare for her.

She wondered where they would be going on their date, and really hoped it wouldn't be anywhere too nice considering she hadn't brought any particularly nice clothes. Also, since she still had bruises fading, she would have to wear something with long sleeves, and that just limited her wardrobe choices even more….just another crisis to add to the list.

She could already feel a stress headache coming on.

Of course, at that moment, Lilly woke up screaming at the top of her lungs. Keely rubbed her fingers on her temples and wished she would have slept more.

She walked over and picked up Lilly, immediately realizing she needed to be changed. Hopefully, she though, after she changed her she would go back to sleep. But no; she didn't even stop screaming.

Keely sat down in the ancient-looking rocking chair, which was a lot more comfortable than it looked, and began rocking Lilly, hoping she would go back to sleep.

For the next 20 minutes, she screamed on and off before finally being quiet. Keely waited another 5 minutes to be sure she was asleep. She got up as carefully and quietly as possible and layed Lilly back in her crib. She looked at the clock; it was now nearly 8.

She hadn't been laying down 30 seconds when she woke back up and started screaming again. Keely picked her up, and carried her over to her own bed and layed her beside her. It was something that, for some reason, had always calmed her down, and this time was no different. She stopped screaming, and looked up at Keely with her big blue eyes. Keely smoothed the little bit of hair she had. Even after all the terrible years she spent with Austin, it was all worth it because it gave her Lilly.

She layed there for a while, just watching her daughter roll around and play with the comforter of the bed. After about 10 minutes, she had fallen back to sleep. Keely was afraid to wake her up again, so she decided to just lay there for a while.

A little while turned into a little while longer, because before she knew it, Keely was being awakened by a knock on the door. She said up and looked around, quickly jumping up when her eyes wandered past the clock: it was 11:53. She could not believe she'd been stupid enough to sleep that long. Phil probably thought she was ditching him.

She walked to the door, forgetting that she was still wearing the short sleeve shirt she'd slept in. "Oh my god, Phil, I am so sorry!" She said as she flung open the door. "I was sort of sleeping." She blushed.

She could tell that Phil was trying to hold back a laugh. "Rough night?" He asked her with a slight smirk.

"I didn't get much sleep." Keely answered honestly.

"Lilly?" Phil asked.

"Nerves." Keely instantly felt stupid for saying it.

This just caused Phil's smile to grow wider. "About today?" He asked, even though she was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, kinda." Keely said, smiling shyly. It was then that Phil's eyes started to wander down her body, and she noticed right away that his eyes stopped at the hand-shaped bruises at the top of her arms.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked, and she could tell just how concerned he was from the tone of his voice.

She couldn't lie; she knew no explanation she could come up with would be good enough, so she didn't do anything as his eyes traveled along her arms, growing wider with each bruise he saw.

"How about we go on to lunch and I'll explain there?" Keely said shakily, trying to put it off as long as possible. "It's uhm, kind of a long story."

"Okay." Phil said. "I..I get I'll wait in the car for you to get ready if you want?"

"Yeah, okay." Keely said. "I'll try not to take too long…I'm really sorry about all this."

"No, it's fine. Really." He said. "Uhm, I'll see you in a few minutes I guess." He said, before walking away. She could tell the whole thing was just making him feel uncomfortable.

As Keely got herself, as well as Lilly, ready, she tried to calm her pounding heart as well as her thoughts. _What if he doesn't like me? What if he thinks I'm weak? What if he thinks I'm used goods? _Phil seemed like a nice guy, and he shouldn't have to carry around her secrets or dark past; he deserved a lot better. Maybe she should just cancel the whole thing, leave, and find another little town to start over in.

But even though every ounce of her brain seemed to be screaming no, she still found her way outside to Phil's truck. He might understand, and he might not; she wasn't certain of anything; But in this new life she was a new person, and this new person took chances.

And if anything was a chance, this was; a chance to find _real _love for the first time.

* * *

**I KNOW IT HAS BEEN FOREVER! And I also know that this is probably a disappointing chapter after having to wait all this time, and I'll try really hard to update a lot faster. Sorry, again. Review please! :) :) :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**I was really close to letting this story go with Behind Closed Doors, but after re-reading this and realizes how much I still LOVE it, I can't let it go. I know I haven't updated in over a year and I feel like such a crappy author, but I'll try to update more often, I promise!**

**

* * *

**

As Keely carried a now wide awake- but thankfully not crying- Lilly out to Phil's truck, she was pretty sure her heart was going to literally jump right out of her chest. She had never been so nervous in her entire life. As much as Austin scared the shit out of her, even he had never had this much affect on her.

"I should probably get a car seat." Keely said with a nervous smile, opening Phil's door. As she struggled to untangle the carseat from the seatbelt with only one free arm, she wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into, and how in the world her life had gotten to the point that it was at now.

She'd had a normal childhood and fairly normal, although slightly awkward, teenage years. It all changed in her second year of college, when she met Austin. They met one night in the library of all places, and clicked after realizing they were both struggling over writing the same paper for the same class. They ended up talking all night, and no progress was ever actually made on that paper, but they started dating soon after that. They were happy, some would say perfect. Then, mid-Junior year, he somehow persuaded her to drop out and marry him. He'd inherited tons of money from his family, enough to support them both even though he was in college. They waited to actually marry when he'd graduated a year and a half later, but it wasn't until after they married that she'd experienced the dark side of him. Unfortunately by that point, it was too late to get out.

Phil came up behind her. "Let me get it." He said, easily maneuvering the carseat out of the car and putting it in the back seat of his truck.

The awkwardness of the car ride was, fortunately, practically nonexistent because of Lilly's constant crying. It didn't start until she realized that she was in an unfamiliar place. It always took her a while to get used to new surroundings.

They pulled up outside a small, but fairly nice looking restaurant. Inside, it was nice, but not fancy, and had a slightly homey feel.

With Lilly sitting right beside them in a high chair, it didn't really feel like a date, and she was sure they looked like a young family to anyone who happened to see them, which was actually a nice thought.

Phil waited until after they ordered their food and drinks to start asking her questions.

"So, uh, I understand that you might not be comfortable answering my questions, but uh, after what…I saw…I'm pretty worried about you." He said awkwardly.

"Don't be worried." Keely said. "It's not a situation I'm in anymore."

"Well, uh, that's really good to hear, but, uh, would you mind telling me what happened or…" His voice trailed off. She could tell he was nervous, and probably confused, and really just at a loss for words. "I mean, I would totally understand if you don't want to."

"No, no…it's fine." She took a deep breath in, really hoping that him seeing this side of her wasn't going to scare him away- he didn't seem like that type of guy, but then Austin didn't seem like the type of guy to put her in the hospital three times in less than two years. "My ex-husband, well, technically, he's still my husband… he did it." She was too overwhelmed to go into any detail. His abuse had been a constant part of her life for nearly three years and this was the first time she'd ever admitted it to anyone.

"Oh,.. that's...I… Oh." His face turned red. "I'm sorry. I just…I don't understand how any man could do that…it's…inexcusable."

Keely didn't know what to say. She realized she'd put him in an awkward situation- but then, it was partly his fault. He was the one who asked.

"Well, I'm sure you don't really want to talk about it." Phil said. "But I just want to say that I think you're really strong for leaving him like this. I'm sure it took a lot of courage."

"Thanks." Keely said awkwardly. "And yeah, well, the timing just seemed right…I was more worried for Lilly's safety than mine but…" She shrugged.

"So, where are you from?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Missouri." She said. "O'Fallon. It's pretty small. Not like here, but not a big city." She stopped talking when she realized she was rambling. She had a huge problem with that.

"Oh." He said. "So I guess you're not used to this? Everyone knowing who you are and everything about you."

"I'm definitely not." She said. "I lived in the same house for more than three years and I never knew any of my neighbors names."

"Wow. I couldn't imagine. Every time the smallest thing happens around here, everyone knows about it in an hour and the story usually gets so twisted that it turns into a scandal."

"Oh, crap, I really don't want to be involved in anything like that." She said. "Are people saying anything about me yet?"

"There's a few rumors. Mostly everyone's wondering who the new waitress at Darlene's is, though." He said.

As the date went on, they settled into normal, comfortable conversation and Lilly, thankfully was pretty well-behaved except for knocking her entire cup of apple sauce on the floor.

When Phil dropped Keely off at her room, she was floating on a cloud. Lilly had fallen asleep on the way home like she usually did right after she ate, so she layed her down in her crib. She had to work later that night, but she still had a few hours to herself so she lay down, and stared at the sealing, just thinking.

She couldn't help but notice that no matter where her mind drifted, it all came back to Phil. Maybe he was just what she was looking for. Maybe he was knight in shining armor...maybe…

* * *

**I really hope people are actually reading this! As dead as the POFT category has become, I have to say that this story is so worth keeping around! Please review, even if it's just to tell me you're still reading! :)**


End file.
